Re: Can't read census image, illegible

Ian Goddard wrote:
singhals wrote:
Ian Goddard wrote:
singhals wrote:
Quite possible. I swore at microfilm of a census record I desperately
needed for years before I finally broke down and went to the original
document at the National Archives main bldg in DC. After that, I moved
on to other matters! The paper in the book had faded to a deep rich
non-yellow cream; the ink was a medium brown. Even the original was
nearly impossible to read, and a Xerox of the page was useless.

I doubt it's as much people to blame as the natural deterioration of
materials. It would be useful, however, if archives were equipped with
some of the techniques used but forensic document examiners such as UV,
IR& IR luminescence. It would also help if, in future, records were
imaged in colour. OK, it would help if they'd been imaged in colour all
along but we can't go back there ;)


As I've heard an actor playing a Scots engineer say, "aye, and if my
granny had wheels, she'd be a wagon." (g)

I suspect that the larger archives may well have something like the VSC
kit (
http://www.fosterfreeman.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=1:examination-of-questioned-documents&Itemid=21
) tucked away in the back room. Of course the public who finance the
operations couldn't possibly be allowed to benefit from it, could they?


Please. That'd be conceding defeat. (g)

Cheryl

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Cant read census image, illegible
    ... Lesley Robertson wrote: ... needed for years before I finally broke down and went to the original ... document at the National Archives main bldg in DC. ...
    (soc.genealogy.computing)
  • Re: Cant read census image, illegible
    ... needed for years before I finally broke down and went to the original ... document at the National Archives main bldg in DC. ... photocopying through coloured cellophane. ...
    (soc.genealogy.computing)
  • Re: Cant read census image, illegible
    ... needed for years before I finally broke down and went to the original ... document at the National Archives main bldg in DC. ...
    (soc.genealogy.computing)